To Improve Disaster Response
Broadcasting Industry Promotion Week 2019 kicked off on Sept. 23 at the Seoul Dragon City Hotel located in Yongsan. At the opening ceremony of the event, the Ministry of Science and ICT declared the commencement of pilot terrestrial UHD services for pre-disaster warning. Receivers for the purpose were installed that day on public electronic displays, city buses and subway trains in the capital area.
The South Korean government is planning to expand the services to metropolitan cities in 2021 and nationwide in 2022 in step with its terrestrial UHD broadcasting introduction schedule. Responses to earthquakes, fires and heavy rains are expected to be facilitated by means of wide-area terrestrial UHD broadcasting.
The pilot services, which are based on ATSC 3.0 as next-generation broadcasting and communications technology, are expected to change the paradigm of information transmission. ATSC 3.0 is next-generation broadcasting standards the U.S. Advanced Television Standards Committee (ATSC) developed for UHD broadcasting, multi-channel broadcasting, mobile broadcasting, etc.
The Ministry of Science and ICT is planning to overcome the limitations of the current emergency alert and broadcasting services by further refining the pilot services in cooperation with the Korea Communications Commission, the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and the Korea Meteorological Administration.